Posted on 10/05/2024 11:02:40 AM PDT by Morgana
Students at prestigious colleges are finding it increasingly difficult to finish entire books because they do not have the attention span.
Some professors claim they have been forced to reduce reading assignments and lower their expectations to stop students becoming overwhelmed - even though the workload is often less intense than in previous years.
It is not that students are illiterate, they say, but rather that youngsters are not used to ploughing through lengthy texts and struggle to focus for long periods of time - often due to the distraction of social media.
UC Berkeley literature professor Victoria Kahn told The Atlantic she used to assign 200 pages of reading each week, but has now had to half this requirement.
She told the outlet: 'I don't do the whole Illiad. I assign books of The Illiad. I hope that some of them will read the whole thing.
'It's not like I can say, "Okay, over the next three weeks, I expect you to read The Illiad," because they're not going to do it.'
Meanwhile, Greg Wrenn, an English professor at James Madison University, wrote an alarming opinion piece for Al Jazeera about students with TikTok 'addictions' and the 'devastating crisis of attention' this has caused.
Wrenn wrote: 'In my environmental literature classes, I’ve seen firsthand the long-term effects of digital cocaine like TikTok on my undergrads.
'I’m on a mission, probably doomed, to get them to be more present – to appreciate the written word and the natural world, sometimes wearing my wetsuit and dive mask to get their attention when we’re discussing coral reefs and Ralph Waldo Emerson.'
Wrenn said his students often struggle to get through the essays or excerpts he assigns.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“ Maybe she read Catcher in the Rye and just snapped.”
Why did we have to read this stupid assed book. I’m a lot teacher now. I can never understand this
They read "quotes" which may or may not be accurate but they have never read the books.
What I really hate about young people constantly staring at their cell phones is... hang on, I’m getting a text message.
“I’m sure these “elite” students have read “The communist manifesto” and “Das Kapital”.’
I seriously doubt that. They may have read an excerpted paragraph or two, but that’s likely it.
“Digital cocaine?” I’m stealing that forever.
I first noticed that 14 years ago. I was invited to a young adult’s birthday party, and I noticed all of her 20-something friends sitting around a table tapping away at their phones instead of talking to each other. It was culture shock for me at the time as someone pushing 40.
When I taught in graduate school, my own study classes would have 6, 400 page books, plus supplemental material, about 200 pages, plus writing and rereading my 50 plus page term paper 5 times, 10 page papers for each book read, times five drafts, plus research material, then the classes I taught would have about 500 pages of reading, then my three classes were assigned,3, 5 page drafts plus a final paper from 45 students, for a total of 5 final papers per class. So I was upward of 20,000 pages a semester. On top of that, I still read newspapers and other personal material to stay current.
And is not just students who complain, but lead faculty members complain about assigned reading. My analogy to this is, teaching someone to write without reading and comprehending is like teaching someone to play an instrument and write music without EVER having listened to music. It is impossible task.
They are both over two pages so I think not
usually you make very bright comments ... but that is one of the stupidest comments I’ve seen on here in my 20+ years ...
Calm down it’s an Idiocracy reference.
In my 1st semester as a freshman at the University of Maryland at College Park, I took an honors course called “Insula”, dealing with literature revolving around islands. I had to read at least 8 books in that course, in addition to hundreds of pages of chemistry, calculus and Intro to Russian Language texts. I took lots of notes, as well as numerous quizzes and tests, and wrote a couple papers in the Insula course. There were associated tests and finals in the calculus, chemistry and Russian courses
In my 1st sophomore semester at Maryland, I took an intro to Shakespeare course, in which I studied eights of the bard’s works, took a quiz on each, and wrote several essays. After I failed the second quiz, I read each subsequent play TWICE to make sure I had everything down. I ultimately ended up with an “A.” This was in addition to hundreds of pages of multivariable calculus, second-semester Chemistry, and second-year Russian, with associated tests and finals.
In my 2nd sophomore semester (spring), an unexpected difficulty came up: I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Due to the demands of treating the disease, I had to drop my FORTRAN course, leaving me with only 10 hours. I was on scholarship, which required at least 12 hours a semester, but given the circumstances, I was allowed a waiver. So I managed to get caught up on the remaining courses after the hospital and doctor’s visits pending diagnosis, and got caught up while enduring chemo treatments, with the associated symptoms. I made up the computer course that summer, but since summer school wasn’t covered by the scholarship, I had to pay. Fortunately, my father was happy to cover that one for me. So I did the summer course while working at Rite Aid drug store in Mount Airy and undergoing chemo.
And my third year was a reduced course load (still keeping at least 12 hours) while continuing treatments. That following summer, I worked a summer job at Goddard Space Flight Center while finishing up the treatments. I was declared in remission that August, and the treatments ended.
And on and on with hundreds and hundreds of pages of stuff to read all the while, with tests, papers, essays and exams. I finally graduated, by some miracle, in May 1989 after 4 years of college, some of it grueling, and dealing with cancer during part of that. With all that behind me, I can only ask one thing:
What the hell is wrong with kids today???
ANOTHER LEGACY OF PARTICIPATION TROPHIES
ah ... ok ... I’m not a movie guy ...
I’ll occasionally do something on my phone when I’m with others, but for the most part, I concentrate on those others. It’s the right thing to do. Talk about a miserable existence: being lonely together with y’all on your phones.
Gen Excerpt
Bookmark
When I was growing up I lived in the library and spent most of my time with my face in a book
By the time I got to college, I had had already read a lot of stuff that was required reading for my courses
Did you work with them? I had classes with HB, rip, the others far before my time though.
“’It’s not like I can say, “Okay, over the next three weeks, I expect you to read The Illiad,” because they’re not going to do it.’”
Then they FAIL!
They’re merely following the example of legislators who don’t read the bills they pass.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.